"Life and death are important. Don't suffer them in vain."
-Bodhidharma
-Bodhidharma
"To find a Buddha all you have to do is see your nature."
-Bodhidharma
Normally I reserve this blog specifically for martial arts topics, but as a practicing Buddhist (and Jew) I greatly enjoy the story of Bodhidharma. Founder of what would become Chan/Zen Buddhism, he is particularly responsible also for many of us who practice martial arts.
Since his existence in history occurs around 500 AD, about the time the western Roman empire collapsed, his story is riddled with both history and myth, with much of the latter involved. Keep that in mind, it is very difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction the farther we get concerning history.
So before anyone raises any complaints I am writing this post with far too much spirituality or buying into myth, I gave fair warning that will be present.
A monk born in India, Ba Tuo, later known as Buddhabhadra and later still as Bodhidharma is held to be the individual who began the training of Shaolin monks. Because of this, in my mind, he is the key patriarch to the practice of martial arts as we know them. Of course martial arts existed long before him (evidence can be found from Babylonian and ancient Egyptian inscribings) as well as scrolls detailing Taijiquan postures. But in the sense that Yip Man was the patriarch of Wing Chun, though not the founder, takes little away from the influence felt from their impact concerning their respective practices.
Bodhidharma founded the original Shaolin temple purportedly, having been raised in a southern region of India, a favored son of a king. He was tutored under the Buddhist master Prajnatara, and it was his master's idea that Ba Tuo go to China after his teacher passed away.
Known as Da Mo when he entered China, practicing Da Sheng Mahayana Buddhism. There are many stories concerning his adventures in China, from angering an Emperor and general, to floating atop a single reed on the Yangzi river. Meditating in a cave for nine years in the mountain range close by the Shaolin monastery.
He would eventually become of great influence to the monks there, and as the story goes when he reached the monastery he found them to often be at desks transcribing documents to preserve and pass on knowledge. Viewing their practice as uncondusive, at least physically, and thus taught them martial arts which would help them physically retain their health.
Passed from generation to generation, these martial arts he taught would evolve to become the 'Kung Fu' we associate with the order today.
Whether or not it is true, it is good for martial artists to have figures they can think of as embodiments of arts. In a sense it does give us a focus- but when we begin to revere them as saints it detracts from the purity of the arts themselves.
I enjoy the story of Bodhidharma because as a Zen Buddhist I enjoy the legends and stories which enrich the faith. As a historian I view the human experience as a story unfolding much like a flower. I look to beings such as Bodhidharma as inspiration, because whether real or not, they can offer us example in terms of our own possibilities.
The goal of my life is to affect others in a way that can improve quality of life, and to ensure martial arts never ends. I am certain that whether or not I existed martial arts would always exist- there will always be someone, somewhere who is practicing life as an art itself.
There will always be soldiers and fighters, and that fighting spirit will always exist. So in a way this dream of mine is irrelevant to a degree, save that it gives my own life purpose and direction.
Find those stories which can inspire you- whether they are real or not, they are always metaphors which can better our pursuit in the journey.
For more in-depth covering of Bodhidharma and his history read;
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/bodhidharma.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhidharma
Writings concerning his teachings;
http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Ancestors/The%20Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Bodhidharma/The%20Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Bodhidharma/THE%20ZEN%20TEACHINGS%20OF%20BODHIDHARMA.htm
"Words are illusions."
-Bodhidharma
"If we should be blessed by some great reward, such as fame or fortune, it's the fruit of a seed planted by us in the past."
-Bodhidharma
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